Summer rain delays completion of middle school tracks, some already in use by community

Students continuing to run on ground in the meantime

You may have already taken a leisurely stroll on the asphalt, but Lubbock Independent School District middle school tracks aren’t quite done.

Thanks to some summer rain — which district officials say they’re not complaining about — completion dates have been moved to the end of September. In the meantime, students will continue to do what they’ve always done.

“They’ve never had tracks here, ever,” LISD Athletic Director Mark Ball said. “If you look at the average age of our middle schools, I think the average middle school here probably started in like 1965. Right now they run on the ground.”

The tracks were designed to be of use not only for physical education classes and athletic teams, but also for the surrounding community. With no permanent fencing around the area, joggers and fitness gurus can use the track anytime students aren’t on it.

“Once that asphalt was laid, we had lots of people coming out and walking on them. We know they’re going to be welcomed by the community,” LISD spokeswoman Nancy Sharp said.

The tracks at the middle schools — all but Dunbar College Preparatory Academy, which already has a track on campus from its days as a high school — are in various stages of completion. Two, Evans and Mackenzie middle schools, just lack their stripes.

O.L. Slaton, which is also getting an exterior makeover, is the furthest behind, but the asphalt is walkable, Sharp said.

Ball said the rubber will be down on five of eight of the tracks by the end of the week.

The projected completion date was the start of school, but Sharp said there was always an expectation the project would overlap a little bit into the beginning of the school year.

Other 2010 bond projects the district is working on include the construction of Miller Elementary School, set to open in January, exterior renovations to O.L. Slaton and Hutchinson middle schools, interior work at Mackenzie Middle School, and boys’ and girls’ locker rooms at Mackenzie, Evans, O.L. Slaton and Hutchinson middle schools.

“They’re still usable, they’re just having to make some accommodations,” Sharp said of the locker room project.

Ultimately, the tracks boil down to partnership with the community, Ball said.

“We wouldn’t have these tracks if the community hadn’t passed our bond. That’s part of the idea. We want to make sure we do allow public access really for lifetime leisure.”

There’s another piece too.

“The health portion of it,” Ball said. “If we can get everybody out walking or jogging, that’s a great thing to do.”